DeLand, Fla. - Three members of the Stetson softball team have been honored with Academic All-Conference and Atlantic Sun Conference All-Tournament Team selections following the conclusion of the tourney this past weekend in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Sophomore pitcher Meredith Owen (Jackson, Miss.) landed on both lists while senior first baseman Carolyn Boyd (Germantown, Tenn.) was an All-Academic pick and freshman pitcher Courtney Brandt (Dade City, Fla.) was tabbed to the A-Sun All-Tournament Team.
Brandt and Owen paced the sixth-seeded Hatters (26-22, 9-9 A-Sun) to a pair of upset wins to open the tourney. The former tossed a 1-0 shutout against third-seeded host USC Upstate on Wednesday and drove in three RBI in the next day's 7-2 win over second-seeded Kennesaw State. The latter led Stetson with four hits and a .308 batting average in the tournament and was the winning pitcher against KSU; Owen struck out eight hitters in 16.1 innings throughout the event.
Boyd and Owen made the A-Sun Academic All-Conference list for having cumulative GPA's of 3.3 or higher while simultaneously being top contributors to Stetson's success on the field. Boyd started all 48 games at first base as a senior, hitting .264 with three doubles, a home run and 11 RBI; she made just two errors in 387 chances to tie for third in Stetson single-season history with a .995 fielding percentage. Owen led the team at the plate in batting average (.311), doubles (10) and slugging percentage (.497) while ranking second in home runs (six), RBI (25) and on-base percentage (.369); a two-way star, she also won a team-high 15 games in the circle with 143 strikeouts, two saves and a 2.35 ERA.
Stetson finished third in the A-Sun tournament and returned to its traditional winning ways in 2012. Brandt, an A-Sun All-Freshman Team honoree and Owen both return next year, as do two-time Second Team All-Atlantic Sun center fielder Chrissy Morello (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and three other everyday starters for Head Coach Frank Griffin's ballclub.
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